I’m on vacation this week in Scotland. In an effort to continue posting without breaking poor, over-worked Lauria into a thousand pieces, I’m re-posting some of my favorites from the past for our new readers, and for those of you who never had the chance to try them the first time. Don’t worry! We’ll be posting original content as well, including some dispatches from the U.K.
This post originally ran in 2011. The tutorial is great for making any kind of ice cream and it’s really, really easy. Enjoy!
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I hate to be braggy, but this weekend, I created a recipe for the best ice cream ever. By “best”, I mean the best ice cream I have ever put in my mouth, homemade or otherwise. And by “ever”, I mean EVER.
My inspiration came from this Smitten Kitchen recipe for Buttermilk Ice Cream. It’s a great recipe and the ice cream it produces is tangy and yum. So yum that I’ve made it twice in two weeks.
I wanted to get that same tanginess with a little bit of additional creaminess in an ice cream that could showcase the fresh strawberries that are currently in season. I love the combination of strawberries and goat cheese in salads, so I decided to give them a whirl in the ice cream maker. And- Oh!- how happy I am that I did!
While I was at the market picking up strawberries, my eye wandered over to a giant box of blackberries that were on sale. I ended up making a blackberry version as well, you know, just for the sake of research.
Strawberry Balsamic Ice Cream (with a blackberry variation)
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup sugar (separated 1/4 cup and 1/2 cup) plus 1 tablespoon
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 6 egg yolks
- 2-3 oz. mild goat cheese
- 2 pounds of strawberries, hulled and cut into eights OR 2-3 cups of blackberries
- 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar (the cheap kind is fine here) (if you’re using blackberries, you can omit the balsamic and use a squeeze of fresh lime juice in it’s place)
In a heavy saucepan, combine milk, heavy cream and 1/2 cup sugar over medium heat. Stir occasionally, being careful not to allow the milk to scorch. You are just gently heating the milk to a low simmer.
Separate 12 eggs, retaining the whites for another use. I find the easiest way to separate eggs is to use my hands, letting the whites slip through my fingers, but you can use an egg separator if it’s more comfortable for you.
Whisk the egg yolk with 1/4 cup of sugar. Now we are going to temper the eggs. Tempering eggs intimidates some people, but it’s really very easy. Basically, tempering is just a slow and gentle way of raising the temperature of the eggs so that they don’t cook and become a gloppy mess. (I doubled the recipe so I could make both versions at once, which is why there are so many yolks in this photo.)
First, reduce the heat under you milk mixture to low. Then slowly add the hot milk mixture to the yolks, never more than one spoonful at a time, and stir to combine.
Keeping adding spoonful of milk until the egg mixture in the bowl is approximately the same temperature at the milk mixture in the pot.
Don’t try to rush the process. It will only end in heartbreak.
When the to mixtures are roughly the same temperature, add the egg mixture to the milk mixture and stir.
You are now making the custard that will be the base of your ice cream. Continue to stir the custard over low heat while it cooks. By “continue to stir” I mean, give this custard you FULL ATTENTION for the next four or five minutes, being careful to stir all the way to the edges of the pot. Allowing your custard to cook too quickly will result in the eggs that you so carefully tempered turning into scrambled eggs. This is what’s referred to as a “broken” sauce, and it’s really completely unnecessary if you take your time and don’t try to rush it or walk away.
The custard is ready when it coats the back of a spoon, like this. Turn off the heat and set aside.
Next, crumble 5 ounces of goat cheese into a large bowl. Unless of course you have servants to do that kind of thing for you.
Pout the hot custard mixture over the crumbled goat cheese and stir until some of the goat cheese melts into the custard. Don’t worry if there are still large pieces of cheese visible- they will be the lovely little treasures in your ice cream. Cover the custard and refrigerate until well chilled.
While your custard is chilling,macerate your berries by sprinkling them with 1 tablespoon of sugar and 2 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar and allowing them to sit at room temperature for about an hour.
If you are using blackberries, put them in a bowl and, using a potato masher, crush some of the berries, leaving the rest whole. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar (more if the berries are very tart) and add a small squeeze of lime juice. Give a good stir and allow to macerate at room temp for about an hour.
When your custard is nice and cool, combine the custard with the macerated fruit and proceed with the instructions for your ice cream maker. I have a White Mountain Electric Ice Cream Maker and I wouldn’t part with it for the world. I’ve tried the kind of makers that have a canister you put in the freezer, but I’ve never found one that works very well or makes very much ice cream in a batch. If you have one that gives you good results, I’d love to hear about it.
When your ice cream comes out of the maker, you will be very tempted to eat it immediately but it won’t be frozen solid-solid, like ice cream you get from the market. You can take it out of the maker and pop it into the freezer for a bit if you like a more solid freeze, but I think it actually tastes best when it’s a little less frozen. Totally a matter of preference.
Strawberry Balsamic Goat Cheese. So incredibly super delicious.
Blackberry Goat Cheese Ice Cream. Complex, tart, sweet and oh so good.
This recipe makes about a quart of ice cream. I like to double the recipe every time I make it and store the extra in these little containers in the freezer. It’s really fun to offer your house guests a choice of flavors of your own homemade ice cream, so start stocking up the freezer for summer now.
